UPDATED: Simoncelli crashes in training, pause for 75 days

Davide Simoncelli -

Italian GS specialist Davide Simoncelli had a training crash on the glacier at Les Deux Alpes on Sunday and was operated in Grenoble on Sunday.

After a good night in the hospital, 33-year-old Simoncelli is recovering rapidly from the training crash in which he sustained an abdominal trauma and a perforated intestinal caused by a gate.

Transported to the hospital in Grenoble by helicopter,Davide was operated on for overthree hoursby the French doctors,whosew upthe wound. He will remainhospitalizedfor a weekin Grenoble. His full recovery is expected to require around75 days.

UPDATE 28th June 2012:

Four days after the accident, DavidSimoncelli, who was hospitalizedlast SundayinGrenoble, is already feeling better.Doctors have now removedthe IV tube to the 33-year-old,whosehealthisimproving steadily,so much so that hecan finally discuss theaccident that occurred during training at the glacierin LesDeuxAlpes.

"I never thoughtof havingsuch an experience," says Simoncelli. "Iwas training like every other dayaswhenskiing intoa curveveering to the left,I slippedonto the inside. Usuallythe skis break the gate, but this time it was not so.I tooka blow right into the abdominals. I thoughtthe painwould pass in a few minutes,but insteadI startedto feel sick.Fortunatelythere wasa helicopter available to transport metoGrenoble,allowing me to win some timewhich was really lucky for me. The doctorsdiagnosed me withabdominal trauma and a smallperforation in an intestinal,and had to work for overthree hours tosewit all.Now I feelsomepainall over,but that's normal.Ifall goes wellI shouldgo homenext Mondayand then start tothink of recovery. It's beena bad experience, but fortunatelythingsare movingin the right direction.We are still ina periodof the season whereyou can recover from amishaplike mine withminor damage,and recoverthelost time.I have done so manytimes in mylifeand will do soon this occasion too."